Review of .hack//SIGN

Ever since the trapped in videogame type of isekai sub-genre became a fad, you could read some people saying that this one show, the first of them all by a long margin, is actually the best, and since those comments come from people who hate that genre, I always wanted to check it out. I was initially planning to review the franchise as a whole once I finished it, but who knows if that will even happen.

Obviously, this anime is quite outdated when it comes to visuals, for a 2002 anime the artwork is solid and the backgrounds are great, while everything else is just fine, the character designs were once iconic, but now come off as simple and kind of generic, plus the character models can be inconsistent at times. Since the series is dialogue-heavy, the characters remain mostly standing or sitting while talking, which means the actual animation is mostly static, even though there are a few fights in it, which in turn are decently animated for the time but the motions are still nothing very impressive. Coming from that era, most of the special effects are quite good, but there is also prominent CGI that by now is crude and weak looking, not so much as there was in other shows from that time, thankfully, but it’s still there and affects the overall.

The sound department was and is still praised, the sound effects were very good for its time, although a bit outdated by now, the voice acting a bit atypical and very mature for its type of series, with Mitsuki Saiga being the best possible choice for the protagonist, and the soundtrack is easily among the best and most atmospheric in the whole medium, especially the opening. The composer is the well-known Yuki Kajiura, who would go on to make very similar soundtracks in later works, mixing a little bit of different influences depending on the aesthetics of each title. The problem here is the directing, which is weird at times, using the themes in ways and moments that feel misplaced, which is why I have to take a point from the overall sound department.

The plot has to do with people playing a VRMMORPG, but one of them, the protagonist, can’t logout, so it becomes a problem because of the effects that that can have on her body, and for everyone else, who considers her a cheater that’s breaking the game and is responsible for certain things that are happening in it.

The series is not an action adventure like every other that would follow it in its genre, it’s a mix of slice of life, as it shows the role playing of everyone and what and how they do in the game, as well as real life issues of each one becoming important regarding character dynamics, and mystery, as the objective is to find the true identity of the main character, aspects of the videogame they play, and by extension the setting itself, from its very core and beginning, as well as finding a McGuffin that can lead to that, and also, well, prevent the world from that game to crash, of course, that was obviously needed to happen.

The anime shows how some of the characters take the game more seriously than others, some just want to have a good time, some just want to chill out, and others take their in-game roles very seriously, more than they should, which is actually a bit of a weak point from the anime. Well, at least every perspective is explained through the exploration of the characters both in game and also outside of it, though to a much lesser extent, with the exception of the main character, of course.

Some, mainly the protagonist, are there for escapism purposes, others to build bonds that they lost in real life, or to do something for someone else, and it’s interesting to see how everyone is confronted about what they want to do in-game and their way to achieve that, with obviously the anti-escapism of the main character being the main theme, character arc, and message in the show.

And that’s its main difference with the other series in its sub-genre, which would ditch every attempt at a serious exploration of a meaningful message nor care for characterization, and mutate into power fantasies where bland overpowered otaku and/or gamer protagonists with no personality whatsoever defeat one dimensional villains and get all the girls in the world.

.hack//Sign is not like that in the least, Tsukasa is initially distant and aggressive towards others, a loner, cynical even, and although that makes up for a good character arc as she warms up to others and face her reality, it’s true that you don’t want to follow a main character like that all that much. Well, at least her reactions are justified when you take in count that a lot of players attack her out of the blue with no explanation nor much solid justification. That is a nice detail not only because it shows that she is not very liked by others, but also because it establishes her character better than just having her being an antisocial just because and to fit with the emo fashion of the era. I said that but that aspect of her personality is also explored through her in real life persona and drama, which is quite heavy and serious and treated tastefully, and obviously won’t be covered here.

She is also not powerful in the least, if I remember correctly she is a middle level spell caster in the game, and although with very high potential, it also means that could be beat by anyone in a 1v1 in the game, if not for the broken items she acquires at some point, which actually turn on herself after a point for plot reasons.

Another good aspect of the show is showing how the existence of Tsukasa is seen by the rest of the players, as a some sort of threat for the stability of the game and world they interact in and with, leading some to go for aggression, while others try to communicate, reason, understand and bond with her, to get to the bottom of the mysteries of the show together. Eventually this is resolved and abandoned because of the stakes that the show goes for near the end, when everyone unites to face the biggest threat and matter at hand. That is something that I also found to be a positive, compared with other anime from the genre that have high stakes from the beginning, but also characters that don’t care much about them, or give more importance to whatever the protagonists do in ways that don’t feel plausible in the least, and that make them look like idiots.

Another thing I never liked on later titles is how similar the avatars of the players were to their real life designs, .hack//Sign not only has them looking completely different in game, some even change their gender, something that also happens in our real world and life.

Now for the negatives for which I don’t rate .hack//Sign higher despite my praises.

First, although the protagonist is eventually fleshed out and developed and gets a catharsis, as I said she wasn’t very likeable in the beginning, it’s understandable for the reasons I mentioned, but not many would have the patience to follow a main character so apathetic that also has amnesia, thus being both unlikeable and mysterious in a bad way, since she doesn’t remember who she is, and thus can’t be fleshed out until late in the series.

Then, as well done as it is, this is still a series where people take playing a videogame more seriously than they should, they are not even professional gamers, why do they care so much? It’s kinda cringy to watch.

Then, as much as the series tries to introduce high stakes near the end, at the end of the day, it’s still just the world within a videogame, besides the protagonist, everyone can just logout and unlike later anime, death is irrelevant for everybody besides the protagonist here, so the stakes are not as high as the show tries to make it seem like they are.

Speaking of which, Tsukasa goes through several life threatening situations, which in theory should raise the stakes since she can’t logout, and thus starts feeling the effects of the game on her own body, but something happens to either save her in the last moment, or even after apparently being badly hurt, the only thing that get affected are her memories and stuff, which she regains at the end anyways.

Also, it doesn’t make much sense for the antagonist to let her roam free throughout the series while she needed her, that’s what ends up being her downfall in the end.

Then there is the end of the series, which at the last moment throws a cliffhanger hinting at more stuff to come, which you’ll never get to see unless you read other manga, or light novels, or play the videogame series, or listen to drama cds. The series is just a middle point, and its ending the entrance, to a much much bigger and longer franchise, which tarnish what was otherwise a very solid ending up until that point.

Two ovas were released afterwards, and they are not worth watching in the least. One is mostly and unrelated and irrelevant side story of a character that doesn’t appear in the main series, until it shows a bit of the past of a main character, which not only comes out very late, but it also contradicts part of what was shown about her in the series, while the other is just fanservice for longtime fans of the franchise, since it reunites the cast of the anime with ones from the games, some of which have very similar character designs and thus ruins the uniqueness of the ones from the original, because it takes place after the all the plot points from the initial games are over, thus, if you are an anime only, like myself, you won’t even have an idea who all those people are and where did they come from, and even then, that ova can barely count as an outcome, as it is just a festival for the characters to celebrate, while not bringing closure to the anime in the least.

Its legacy was apparently quite tarnished, since the genre moved on to something completely different than it, and later entries wouldn’t follow its ending, and would mutate to a more comical and lewd approach, thus departing from what gave it its uniqueness in the first place.

Personally, I enjoyed .hack//Sign a bit, for basically being the opposite of what I came to hate about modern anime in later years, but it’s still understandable why it’s not liked very much. It’s visually outdated, it takes a while for the protagonist to become likeable, there aren’t many nor very high stakes, the series is incomplete, and people usually want to watch videogame anime for their takes on the core mechanics and the adventures in the world the makers come out with in their series, not a very static and dialogue heavy anti-escapism series about the introspection of antisocial people or straight up losers. And even I had a bit of a tough time to appreciate the anime, despite loving some heavy dialogue series and movies, because those are usually about existential or psychological topics, while this one is about people taking seriously playing a videogame. It’s worth watching for its themes, messages, character immersion and atmosphere, but the plot is certainly not very engaging and slower than it needs to, and the ending is somewhat lacking, so it’s more of an acquired taste type of show for veteran viewers, the exact opposite of what you’d expect from its premise, and what its genre would become.


6/10